Reading and Writing Skills

News about reading and writing skills, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jan. 8, 2015

Scholastic report says survey of over 1,000 children in 2014 found only 31 percent aged 6 to 17 read a book daily for fun, down from 37 percent in 2010; 41 percent of frequent readers ages 6 to 10 were read aloud to at home, while only 13 percent of infrequent readers were being read to. MORE

Nov. 15, 2014

Study released by National Bureau of Economic Research shows that mobile technology may offer cheap and effective solution to language gaps between children of affluent parents and those from low-income families; research found that preschoolers whose parents received text messages with tips on reading to their children performed better on literacy tests. MORE

Oct. 20, 2014

Sesame Workshop, nonprofit producer of Sesame Street, and ToyTalk plan to announce signing of two-year research partnership agreement to explore how to use conversational technology to teach preschool literacy. MORE

Aug. 15, 2014

New York State Education Department releases results that show percentage of elementary- and middle-school students passing statewide math exams inched up in 2014 while reading scores remained flat; this is second year that state administered exams aligned with Common Core standards. MORE

Aug. 5, 2014

Educators in North Carolina are questioning whether new summer classes will help third-grade students meet literacy rules that could force them to stay back a year in school; about 1,500 of the 1,900 students in Charlotte who failed standardized reading test given to all third-graders in the spring enrolled in literacy school in June; some critics argue that efforts need to begin much earlier in a child's life. MORE

Jul. 7, 2014

Op-Ed article by writer and teacher Alexander Nazaryan opposes New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina's plan to reinstate 'balanced literacy' approach in city English classrooms; holds students have been shown to learn better with instruction than with self-driven learning espoused by such an concept; says approach is especially irresponsible given that it is out of step with Common Core standards. MORE

Jun. 27, 2014

Student-led approach to reading and writing, known as balanced literacy, is poised to make comeback in New York City classrooms; Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina wants more schools to adopt aspects of the teaching method, including its emphasis on allowing students to choose books they read for assignments. MORE

Jun. 24, 2014

New policy statement from American Academy of Pediatrics says parents should read aloud to their infants from birth; group, which represents 62,000 pediatricians across the country, is asking its members to become powerful advocates for reading aloud, every time a baby visits the doctor; important brain development occurs within the first three years of a child's life, and reading to children enhances vocabulary and other important communication skills. MORE

Jun. 3, 2014

Common Core standards in education, which have been accepted in most states, place little emphasis on handwriting after the first grade, but research shows that process of writing by hand is important to a number of cognitive processes, and not just legibility; evidence suggests that learning to write by hand helps children better generate ideas and retain information. MORE

May. 26, 2014

LeVar Burton is leveraging a chance to wear the original Visor he sported as Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation in exchange for a donation to a crowdfunding campaign for web-based version of defunct PBS television show Reading Rainbow; revived brand encourages children ages 3 to 9 to read. MORE

Apr. 19, 2014

Stone Avenue branch of the Brooklyn Public Library in Brownsville, NY, is celebrating its 100-year anniversary and reflecting on its mission as a haven for children within a tough neighborhood; Brownsville is home to over 86,000 residents and has one of the largest concentrations of public housing in the nation; more than half of area's children live below federal poverty line and only a third meet city and state reading standards. MORE

Apr. 4, 2014

Many New York students say they were better able to handle material on 2014 state reading tests; passing rates plummeted in 2013 when the state changed its test to match curriculum standards known as the Common Core, leading to complaints that tests were too difficult and had been introduced before students and teachers had fully adapted to new learning goals. MORE

Mar. 3, 2014

Several companies are preparing English language curriculums built entirely on digital platforms, promising to change the nature of classroom learning across the country; products would replace textbooks, worksheets or printed study guides. MORE

Dec. 22, 2013

Gray Matter column by doctoral candidate Samuel Mehr describes paper he and his colleagues published in the journal PLoS One that studied the effects of childhood music enrichment classes on spatial, linguistic and mathematical skills; urges parents to continue to emphasize music education, even if there is no evidence that such education improves children's cognitive skills. MORE

Dec. 3, 2013

Results of the Program for International Student Assessment show that 15-year-olds in the United States scored in the middle of the developed world in reading and science while lagging in math; results are similar to those in previous year. MORE

Nov. 8, 2013

Education Department says American fourth and eighth graders scored somewhat better on reading and math evaluations in 2013, but achievement gaps between whites and blacks, whites and Hispanics, and low-income and more affluent students stubbornly persist. MORE

Oct. 23, 2013

Editorial highlights alarming report issued by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that details how Americans, in comparison to their peers abroad, rate weak-to-poor in areas of literacy, numeracy and problem solving; warns that the country will pay a long-term price if it does not adopt a sense of urgency about education. MORE

Oct. 22, 2013

Study by Stanford psychologist Anne Fernald finds that affluent children learn 30 percent more words from 18 months to 2 years of age than children from low-income homes; is follow-up to landmark study which found that by age 3, children of wealthier professionals have heard words millions more times than those of less educated parents, giving them distinct advantage in school and suggesting need for increased investment in prekindergarten programs; findings appear in journal Developmental Science. MORE

Oct. 8, 2013

Study by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that American adults lag well behind their counterparts in most other developed countries in mathematical and technical skills needed for modern workplace. MORE

Sep. 26, 2013

Gadgetwise blog; LeapFrog's new device, the LeapReader, is an electronic pen that sounds out letters and words in LeapFrog books and teaches children how to write them. MORE

Aug. 22, 2013

Kit Eaton App Smart column; highlights of tablet apps, using sound and animations, that guide children through the process of recognizing letters, to actually reading. MORE

Jul. 18, 2013

Gadgetwise blog; several digital initiatives from Disney promote reading and storytelling for children from preschool age to young adult. MORE

Jul. 14, 2013

Curtis Sittenfeld Lives essay on her disappointing realization that, despite being an author herself, she was unable to successfully tutor a woman and help her pass the English section of the GED test. MORE

May. 30, 2013

Educators, policy makers and business leaders often worry about state of math education at low-income schools, but reading comprehension may be larger stumbling block; charter networks and school districts nationwide often struggle to bring students' reading levels up to speed, while having more success in mathematics. MORE

May. 30, 2013

Kit Eaton App Smart column; many fundamental reading lessons that use games, like tracing letters and creating and pronouncing words, are available for Apple and Android tablets. MORE

Apr. 30, 2013

Christine C Quinn accompanies New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis M Walcott to announce literacy program in city schools, second time in a week that Mayor Michael R Bloomberg allowed her to take center stage at a big announcement by his administration; move grants Quinn, a Democratic candidate for mayor, a conspicuous dress rehearsal for the powerful role she is seeking. MORE

Apr. 10, 2013

The amount of language children hear in their first three years plays an important role in their future learning: the more talk from parents, the better. MORE